Cooktops usually comprise a plurality of cooking zones which are separated from one another. A respective cooking zone can comprise one or more heating rings that can be activated separate from one another. For example, an inner heating ring can be only activated for a cooking vessel with a small diameter, while an outer heating ring can be activated in addition to the inner heating ring for a cooking vessel with a larger diameter.
Operator control units where the heating power of a cooking zone can be adjusted, amongst other things, are provided for operator control of cooktops. In order to keep the number of operator control and adjusting elements required as low as possible, it may be expedient to assign adjusting elements to a plurality of cooking zones. To this end, one operator control unit in the form of a selection element can, for example, be provided for each cooking zone, it being possible for a cooking zone to be selected by means of said selection element. In this case, only one single operator control element in the form of an adjusting element is provided for adjusting the heating power, said adjusting element comprising, for example, a plus key and a minus key, it being possible to adjust the heating power of the selected cooking zone by operating said adjusting element. If the corresponding cooking zone has a plurality of heating rings, at least one additional operator control element with which, for example, a second heating ring is activated and deactivated, can usually be provided.